Kitchen Catechism: Featured Articles
LUCKY 7
by Lois Donahue
No, I’m not going to talk about throwing dice at a casino gambling table and hoping for a “Lucky 7”. Nor am I going to talk about superstition and compare Lucky 7 to a lucky charm or a lucky rabbit’s foot. In fact, by now, you probably know that when I, as a Catholic, use the number ‘7’ in a title, you can pretty much expect something about the Sacraments and you’re right. I’m going to talk about the seven Sacraments God gives us through His Church and how lucky we are to have them…but let’s begin at the beginning.
Since the whole concept of what we now know as the seven Sacraments was originally revealed through Jesus, we can be certain that these seven channels of grace were, from the very beginning, taught and celebrated by the Church He founded. However, in the early days of our Church, they were referred to as the "sacred mysteries" which came from Greek words meaning "sacred rites" or 'to initiate or begin' something sacred. As the Church spread to the West, there were language differences. The Greek word 'musterion' from which had come 'mystery' was retained by the Greek-speaking Christians while those who spoke Latin used their rendition of that word which was 'sacramentum - hence sacrament. (Another Latin word referred to in a different source is 'sacrare' - meaning to make sacred.) To complicate things a bit more, up to the early Middle Ages, 'sacrament' was used in referring to everything from the washing of feet on Holy Thursday to the anointing with oil for healing. In fact, one source said that in the early Church "almost everything in the Church" was called a sacrament - again, meaning 'something sacred'. Aware that there was an obvious need to identify just what God intended to be known as 'sacraments' and what role they were to play in His plan for our salvation, His Church, following the guidance of the Holy Spirit began, and continues, to be just that. Consequently, our Church...
Tells us that for something to be a Sacrament three things are absolutely essential…as defined, "it must be an OUTWARD SIGN, INSTITUTED BY CHRIST to GIVE GRACE".
Also tells us there are seven Sacraments all of which are ways in which God lovingly offers (not forces upon us) the opportunity to receive as a gift the unequaled benefits of His grace .
Officially names the Sacraments so as to make them meaningful through time (currently the names are - Baptism, Confirmation, (called Chrismation meaning anointing with chrism, by those Catholics who celebrate the Sacraments according to the acceptable customs of the Eastern branch of our Church), Eucharist (commonly thought of as Communion or Holy Communion and once called 'Holy" Eucharist), Penance (sometimes referred to as Reconciliation or Confession), Anointing of the Sick (once called Extreme Unction) Holy Orders and Matrimony).
Determines the appropriate way in which each of the Sacraments is administered, and celebrated.
Now might be a good time to say just a few words about 'grace' since it is an indispensable part of each Sacrament. Since there are many kinds of grace offered to us, it seems best at this point to define grace in a very broad sense. I will attempt that by drawing from what is said in the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" - Grace is a free gift that makes it possible not only for us to "participate in the life of God" but to "respond to His call to become His children". (#'s 1996 & 1997) I like to think of it as 'God's life in us and His help for us'.
As I mentioned above, there are a variety of graces, but two are directly connected with the Sacraments.
The first is SANCTIFYING GRACE which is received at Baptism and restored through the Sacrament of Penance. I say 'restored' because mortal sin deprives us of that grace and through Penance we are able to regain it. Long ago I was taught that Sanctifying Grace is 'God's actual life within us' an, in all honesty, I am still quite content with that simple definition. However, in preparing to talk to you about the Sacraments I came across another definition in Fr. J.A. Harden's "Modern Catholic Dictionary" which not only supplied me with more information but also made God and His gift-giving more present and more personal for me. So, in hopes it will do the same for you, here's what the Dictionary said. -- Sanctifying Grace … "makes holy those who posses it" and allows them to share and participate in the SAME LIFE which Christ taught He has in common with His Father. To me, those are the kinds of words that make me feel like I am 'family-connected' to God.
The other grace we receive through each of the Sacraments is called SACRAMENTAL GRACE that, we are told by our church, is a gift "proper to the different Sacraments". The same idea is also expressed by saying that Sacramental Grace is a special help that God offers "to attain the end for which He instituted each Sacrament." Just one brief example - since it might be said that the 'end' or in other words, the 'reason' why the Sacrament of Confirmation was instituted was to provide our world with "true witnesses of Christ" and therefore as 'confirmed' Catholics, we are obliged, both by word and example, to "spread and defend the faith". Facing facts, we can be relatively certain there will be times when we will need the Sacramental Grace we received at Confirmation to verbally defend our Catholic beliefs when we are tempted to deny them - or to act like a Catholic even though it might not be the 'in' or the 'politically correct' thing to do.
I have just taken a few minutes to look back on what I have written so far about the Sacraments and it occurred to me that I should perhaps call something to your attention. All the preceding 'facts 'as well as all the 'definitions' have come from much more knowledgeable minds than mine and I definitely don't want what I shared with you of theirs to give you the impression that I fully understand the 'what's', 'how's' and 'why's' of the Sacraments. I DON'T!!
But I DO understand this -- in the past couple of months I have 'rambled on' much to long so I will now come to a screeching halt and next time we'll talk about the two remaining things which identify each of God's "Lucky 7's" --- "outward sign" and "instituted by Christ".